Qatar Qtel today announced that it has received the “Recognized for Excellence” Three-Star Award from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), becoming the first telecom operator in the Middle East and the first organisation in Qatar to receive the prestigious recognition. The EFQM provides an Excellence Model as a practical tool to help organisations measure where they are on the path to excellence and what they need to do to improve. In receiving the Three-Star award, Qtel has demonstrated that it has delivered excellent and sustainable results across all areas of the Excellence Model. A team of assessors visited Qtel at the end of 2009, conducting a range of interviews and studying the company’s work processes. They also hosted focus groups, made field visits to Communication Centres and the Call Centre, and paid informal visits to Qtel’s operations across Qatar. Following their final assessment report and recommendation, the Foundation awarded Qtel the Three-Star distinction. “This award reflects Qtel’s commitment to achieve the highest level of business excellence, in line with our vision to be among the top 20 telecommunications companies by 2020. Our leadership, strategic focus, people, operational effectiveness and strict adherence to the highest service standards have earned Qtel this international distinction,” said Dr. Nasser Marafih, CEO of Qtel. The EFQM recognition aims to encourage businesses to conduct performance assessment and measure progress in areas such as strategic planning, leadership, people, customers, key results and others. “The quest for excellence is a continuous journey led by visionary leadership. Qtel quickly realized the potential benefits of applying the EFQM approach to assess strengths and weaknesses and identify improvement opportunities that make a difference. Before attempting to apply for the award, we started with self assessment by internal assessors. We trained more than 40 employees from different units to apply the EFQM Model and conducted two rounds of self assessment in 2007-2009. Management confidence of the results led to applying for, and ultimately receiving the award,” said Mansoor Al-Khater, Executive Director, Group Strategy, Qtel. Qtel joined the EFQM in 2006 and has actively participated in a range of international activities organised by the Foundation. The “Recognized for Excellence” scheme is based on the “EFQM Excellence Model” developed originally by leading European companies to facilitate business excellence among all types of organisations. The Model comprises nine main criteria and 32 sub-criteria addressing all areas necessary to conduct successful and sustainable business. Organisations applying for EFQM awards need to demonstrate considerable progress in all these fields to a team of certified assessors assigned by EFQM.